EDITOR OF UNLICENSED PAPER RECEIVES ONE YEAR

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 002001 SIPDIS FOR NEA/ELA AND DRL E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/11/2028 TAGS: PHUM KDEM KPAO EG SUBJECT: EDITOR OF UNLICENSED PAPER RECEIVES ONE YEAR SENTENCE; HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER ACCEPTS RULING Classified By: ECPO Mincouns William R. Stewart per 1.4 (d). ¶1. (C) On September 10, a court sentenced Ahmed Bakr Selim, editor of the largely unknown newspaper "Al Qahira Al Yoym" ("Cairo Today") to one year in prison for publishing and distributing the paper without a license. According to Egyptian state media, the court granted Selim bail on $1,850 pending appeal. Human rights lawyer Gamal Eid from the reputable Egyptian NGO "Arab Network for Human Rights Information," who specializes in press freedom cases, told us September 11 that during the trial Selim admitted publishing the paper without a license in contravention of Egyptian law. Eid said he found nothing objectionable about the court verdict. (Note: Eid is known to us as a responsible human rights lawyer and observer of press freedom issues. End note.) ¶2. (C) Eid described the case as growing out of a libel suit that Selim brought against Yasser Barakat, editor of the also largely unknown, but legally licensed paper "Al Mogez." In the midst of the libel trial, the court discovered that "Al Qahira Al Yoym" was unlicensed. Eid added that MP Mustafa Bakry, editor of the colorful and controversial weekly "Al Osboa," funded Selim's paper "Al Qahira Al Yoym" largely with the intent to defame "Al Mogez" editor Barakat. SCOBEY